


Ready to Call This Love

by kaijuvenom



Category: Gotham (TV)
Genre: Cat Gives Bad Relationship Advice, Ed Gives Bad Relationship Advice, F/F, Femslash February, Fluff, Marriage Proposal, Misunderstandings, Misunderstandings That Are Quickly Resolved, Tabby is Struggling, They're Lesbians Officer, Valentine's Day, [He Spits in My Face], [The Officer Is Jim Gordon]
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-19
Updated: 2020-02-19
Packaged: 2021-02-28 06:27:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,997
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22659304
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kaijuvenom/pseuds/kaijuvenom
Summary: Tabby accidentally forgets to get Barbara a gift for Valentine's Day, so she frantically searches across the entire city of Gotham to find the perfect present. Little does she know, this was all an elaborate plot to get Tabby out for the day so she can plan a romantic proposal dinner for her.
Relationships: Tabitha Galavan/Barbara Kean
Comments: 6
Kudos: 17





	Ready to Call This Love

**Author's Note:**

> happy femslash february yall have some fuckin NOURISHMENT

Barbara was good at remembering things. She kept important dates locked in her head and could give a rundown of exactly what she’d done last year on this important date, and why this year would be even _more_ memorable. Tabby didn’t remember important dates. Anniversaries, birthdays (even her own), holidays, they all flew over her head without a second thought. 

Valentine’s Day was no exception because even though every corner store and billboard in Gotham was decorated in hearts and chocolate, the message of _hey! It’s Valentine’s Day!_ Didn’t get through to her.

That is, it didn’t get through to her until approximately one pm on February 14th, when Butch (thank God for Butch), asked her what he plans were for the day. She’d stared at him with a blank look on her face and he’d stared right back, waiting for the penny drop. When it did, the look of confusion on her face instantly morphed into one of absolute horror. It had been bad enough when Barbara had thrown her a surprise birthday party and Tabby had taken it as an assassination attempt, stabbing two of the guests who’d jumped out when she’d arrived before Barbara had managed to calm her down. 

But now she was forgetting _Valentine’s Day_? That was likely an unforgivable sin in Barbara’s book. Or at least something she would bring up the next time she and Tabby argued. 

About half an hour of frantic googling later, she had slipped out of the club, giving Butch a half-baked excuse to send along to Barbara in case she asked. Her first stop was the candy store. She spent roughly fifteen minutes staring at the pink and red heart-shaped boxes of chocolates, the strangely colored fruit gummies, and the overly present abundance of Cupid motifs on various lollipop wrappers before leaving in a huff.

Her next stop was a lingerie shop. _That_ was an even bigger mistake than the candy store. Its only customers were men, who were likely frantically buying bras that wouldn’t fit their girlfriends to give them as terrible presents. The problem with lingerie was that it was never for the other person, you didn’t buy lingerie on Valentine’s Day because it was a nice and comfortable outfit. You bought it because you either (a) wanted to see your partner in it because you’d enjoy it, or (b) you wanted your partner to see you in it because you thought they’d enjoy it. 

Not that Tabby wouldn’t enjoy seeing Barbara in lingerie, but that happened already. Valentine’s wouldn’t make it special. 

Her third idea was Barbara’s favorite restaurant, she had planned to either coerce the owner into giving them a reservation for that night or get Barbara’s favorite meal to go and bring it back to the club with her. Unfortunately, neither one was an option, because the restaurant was closed for the week. 

It was at this point that she ran into Cat, who was loitering outside of a boutique, occasionally glancing in like she was calculating exactly how long it would take her to get in, rob them of everything they had, and get back out before the cops (who were currently right across the street) caught up with her. 

“Hey, Cat,” Tabby said, approaching her as she pushed the hair out of her face, crossing her arms. 

Selina gave her a casual nod of her head, drumming her fingers against the glass windowpane of the boutique. “You okay?” She asked, tilting her head at Tabby.

Tabby sighed, leaning on the wall next to her. “I’m trying to find Barbara a Valentine’s… present. Or something.” 

“On February fourteenth?” 

“Yes, I _know_ ,” Tabby snapped. “Tell me what I can do, I’m at a loss here.” 

Cat shrugged, looking entirely uninterested in Tabby’s plight. “How should know? I’ve never even had a partner, much less on Valentine’s Day.” 

“Yes, but what do people _usually_ do? I already tried chocolate, romantic dinner, new-”

“Why not sit her down and tell her how much you love her, and that you’re sorry, but you completely forgot to get her a present for the holiday corporations made up to sell more flowers?” 

Tabby snapped her fingers as if she’d had a realization. “Flowers! Of course! Why wouldn’t she want flowers? Thanks, Cat,” she called over her shoulder as she made her way down the block to the florist around the corner. 

She didn’t know much about flowers, and to add to that, the florist was rather sparse, thoroughly picked through and most everything left was wilted or some odd color combination of flowers. Still, it was the best she could do. 

Sorting through bouquets and vases of mediocre to downright hideous arrangements, she didn’t bother paying attention to the person who’d come in a few minutes after she had, at least, not until they had tapped her on the shoulder. 

“Tabitha Galavan. I thought that was you. It smelled like an unfortunate combination of commitment issues and unbridled rage.”

She turned so fast she smacked the person in the face with her hair, which she did not feel bad about when she saw who it was. “Ed Nygma.” Her hand went instinctively to her back pocket, ready to pull out her knife if need be. 

“You’d better take three steps back before I gut you and string your intestines up like fairy lights.” Now that she thought about it, maybe Ed’s intestines would make a nice present for Barbara? Although, she didn’t hate him nearly as much as Tabby did. Besides, Valentines was supposed to be about _them,_ it seemed in poor taste to bring someone else to the celebration of their love. Even if 'the someone else' in this scenario would be the desecrated corpse of their enemy. 

“Charming as always, I see,” Ed responded, taking only two steps back, probably for spite. 

“What are you doing here?” 

“Well,” Ed began, in a way that made it sound like he had an entire twenty-minute long story he’d been waiting to tell someone as soon as they asked rehearsed, and Tabby held up her hand, interrupting him before he could begin.

“Never mind. I remembered I didn’t give a shit.” 

Ed frowned, clearly disappointed his likely very boring story was cut short. “Well, what might _you_ be doing here? Don’t tell me you’re trying to get a floral arrangement for miss Kean. On February fourteenth, of all times. You didn’t _really_ expect to find anything, did you?” 

Tabby gripped her knife behind her back, glaring at him. “Why don’t you fuck off? At least I have someone. And what do you have? A couple dead girlfriends and unresolved sexual tension with your former boss?” 

Ed’s first response to that was probably the highlight of Tabby’s rather terrible day, as he, rather offended, said; “Oswald wasn’t technically my boss, we were _partners,”_ and he didn’t seem to realize he’d admitted Tabby had been right about his unresolved sexual tension with someone who may or may not had been his boss.

“Whatever. I still don’t care.” Tabby crossed her arms, still holding her knife. “Unless you’re here to give me some sort of brilliant romantic advice, which I know you’re not, because you know less about romance than I do, get out.” 

He grinned at her, holding up his hands placatingly as he took another couple steps back. “Alright, alright. But as a tip; she’s going to hate dying flowers even more than if you admitted you forgot about her because your relationship isn’t a priority to you.”

Tabby responded by throwing the knife at him, and it lodged into the doorframe where his head had been approximately half a second before. She groaned, waiting a few seconds until he’d walked out of sight outside and stepped forward, pulling the knife out of the doorframe and leaving the florist’s, slamming the door behind her. 

She stood on the sidewalk for far too long, contemplating her various options. She could go back to the club and tell Barbara she’d forgotten and beg forgiveness, or she could continue on her fruitless attempt to find a Valentine’s present. She chose the second option, leaning against a streetlamp and going back to google.

_Take a dance class together_ was a reoccurring option. That didn’t help her much. She was pretty sure Barbara would like something like that, but it wasn’t _special_ enough. Nothing was good enough for her. Maybe that could be Tabby’s pitiful excuse, ‘ _I’m really sorry babe, but I didn’t get you anything for Valentine’s Day because there’s nothing good enough for you. It’s not because I’m a terrible girlfriend and I forgot, obviously.’_ She cringed. Definitely not. 

The next option she had was to sort through everything she knew Barbara liked. She liked expensive things, fancy dinners, new decor, causing mayhem for no reason other than to cause mayhem, but the problem Tabby kept running into was that that was what she _always_ did. Causing mayhem for no reason and buying new things was a regular day for them both. 

What was a way that Tabby could explain to her exactly how much Barbara meant to her? What was a way she could say ‘ _I love you and I want to spend the rest of my life with you’_ without so many words? 

The realization of what she could do suddenly dawned on her, inspiration struck as she once again turned to google, this time to find the most expensive jewelry store in the entire city. 

********

Barbara had been planning this for months, only barely managing to keep it a secret from Tabby. She felt a little bad for all the hoops she was making her girlfriend jump through—and the fact that she’d had to resort to hiring Ed to follow her and keep her distracted long enough for Barbara to set everything up. She hoped he hadn’t said anything too obnoxious, or that Tabby hadn’t stabbed him as soon as he’d shown up. 

She was currently on the roof of their club, laying out place settings and other decorations, humming to herself as she decided on the color scheme. She may or may not have already yelled at most of her employees to get out because they _didn’t understand_ the importance of the _color_ of the _napkin holders_ , and she had most definitely stabbed someone with a butterknife for lighting the candles too soon and letting the wax drip on the tablecloth. She’d also had a screaming match with Butch over the simple fact that it was windy out, and that somehow it was Butch’s fault that there was weather. 

The velvet box in her coat pocket felt about twenty pounds heavier as the clock ticked closer to when Tabby would be back, and she nervously swirled her martini around in the glass, staring into it like it had all the answers in the universe somewhere inside the olives. 

When the elevator dinged and the door opened, Barbara jumped so hard she spilled her drink onto the aforementioned coat and was forced to remove it, cursing to herself. 

“Hey babe,” Tabby said, approaching her and taking her hand, giving her a soft kiss in greeting. 

“Tabby.” Barbara smiled, although it was a little strained. Yes, she’d been planning this for months, and yes she was aware that nothing could go wrong at this point but also, what if _everything_ went wrong? What if Tabby said no? Or if some annoying upstart decided to kill them both in the middle of their dinner? Or what if Tabby _said no_? Or what if Ed had spoiled the surprise and ruined the entire night because Tabby was _going to say no_? 

“You okay?” She asked, squeezing Barbara’s arm to get her attention. “You look a little distracted. Did something happen?” 

Barbara managed a smile, shaking her head. “No. Nothing. But I have a surprise for you.” She stood up, taking Tabby’s hand and pulling her back to the elevator. “On the roof.” 

“Of course you do,” Tabby muttered, looking away from Barbara as the elevator made its way up to the roof. 

The roof was decorated in twinkling lights, silver and gold, and candles and rose petals lined a path to a small table with a light pink tablecloth, set up pristinely. The entirety of it only made Tabby feel worse about forgetting Valentine’s Day and the ring felt heavier in her pocket. Maybe this had been a bad idea after all.

“Here. Sit down.” Barbara stepped ahead of her and pulled out a chair, gesturing for Tabby to sit. She hesitated, looking down at the chair and then back at Barbara, swallowing. Her hand went to her pocket, running her index finger across the velvet box. 

Tabby sat down, letting Barbara push the chair in for her. She was going to wait until Barbara sat down before she took the box out of her pocket. Only, Barbara didn’t sit down. 

“Tabby, I love you,” she said after a few seconds of quiet. “I love you, and I-” she stopped, reaching into her dress pocket and frowning, then reaching into her other pocket. Her frown deepened. “Hang on, I-” she looked like she was about two seconds away from panicking before Tabby intervened, standing up next to her and putting her hands on her shoulders. 

“Hey. I- I have something to tell you, too.” She swallowed, then took a deep breath. She could do this, even if Barbara would say no. She was going to go through with this, she couldn’t back down now. “I have to tell you something.” 

Barbara’s face fell even more than it already had and Tabby immediately rushed to reassure her. “No! It’s nothing bad! I just… I’m going to say something, and it’ll sound incredibly ridiculous, and like an awful idea, and I know you’ll say no. but I- I have to say it.” 

Barbara opened her mouth like she was about to protest, whatever it was she had forgotten or had fallen out of her pocket still seemed to be the center thing in her mind. 

Before she could say anything, Tabby interrupted her. As quickly as four words could come out of someone’s mouth, they were out there, no going back.

“Will you marry me?” 

The silence that followed her question was deafening as Barbara stared at her, blinking slowly. And then blinking some more, like she was trying to figure out what was happening. And then she burst out laughing.

And Tabby had probably never been more horrified by laughter in her entire life. Why was that funny? What was happening? Was the idea of marriage so incredibly ludicrous to Barbara that she-

“Oh my God, Tabby, I-” she snorted, reaching into her pockets again like she was still looking for whatever it was she’d lost. “ _Shit,_ it’s in my coat. Wait here.” And then she was gone, leaving Tabby even more confused than when she’d started. 

Was Barbara going to kill her? Was she looking for a knife? Or a gun? Had Barbara known Tabby would forget about Valentine’s Day and had decided this was the last straw? 

Tabby waited for a few seconds, and once Barbara had vanished in the elevator, she reached over the table and grabbed a wine bottle, drinking directly from it. If she was going to get killed by her girlfriend, she’d at least be able to enjoy a nice, overly expensive bottle of red wine before she died. 

“Got it!” Barbara’s sudden reappearance made Tabby almost choke on wine as she turned around, and then she choked again when she saw what Barbara was holding. “Tah-dah!” She said triumphantly, snapping open the box and bringing the silver, sparkling ring into view. 

It was simple, clean lines and not too flashy, but just flashy enough so anyone who saw it would know it was expensive. Almost like it had been coated in a light dusting pure silver. It was beautiful.

“You-” She began, before hesitantly reaching out towards the ring. Barbara smiled, slipping the ring out of the box and taking Tabby’s hand gently.

“There.” She admired it for a second, before pressing a kiss to Tabby’s hand. “It looks beautiful. Now where’s mine?” 

Tabby shook her head, holding up a finger as she reached into her pocket, pulling out the ringbox, flipping it open, and holding it out. 

Gasping, Barbara immediately pulled it out of the box without even waiting for Tabby to do it for her, putting it on her finger and holding her hand out to examine it. Barbara’s was almost completely opposite Tabby’s, with a large five prong diamond in the center, the band encrusted with pink gemstones. 

“Tabitha, I _love_ it, and I love you,” she whispered reverently, looking up from the ring and into Tabby’s eyes, “in that order.” 

Tabby shook her head, letting out a quiet snort of laughter. “Just kiss me already, won’t you?” 

So she did, and it was possibly the best kiss they’d ever shared, arms locking around each other like either would never let go. Once the kiss was broken, Tabby rested her head on Barbara’s shoulder, inhaling deeply. Barbara pressed a kiss to her temple, letting her stay there for a second before speaking. 

“Hey. Dinner’s gonna get cold. And I spent an awful long time making sure it was perfect for us to end up with _room temperature_ risotto,” she said softly, speaking almost into Tabby’s hair as she combed her hair through it. 

“Or…” Tabby offered, lifting her head and trailing her hand up Barbara’s neck. “We _could_ always just have it leftover.”

“But- it’ll get- it won’t be fresh-”

“Afterwards,” Tabby finished, raising her eyebrow, and Barbara’s protests about risotto immediately ceased, as she was kissing Tabby again, pulling her close by the small of her back. 

There was something glorious to be said about the ecstasy of Valentine’s sex—especially when combined with "newly engaged on Valentine’s" sex. 

**Author's Note:**

> Twitter: @kaijuvenom
> 
> follow me pls and also leave comments i do be needin dat validation tho


End file.
